Retaining walls are typically provided adjacent to highways, bridges, overpasses and the like and are designed to support highway fills or cuts especially in those applications where there is insufficient room adjacent such highways, bridges, overpasses and the like for providing an unsupported and natural slope.
Conventional retaining wall assemblies are typically comprised of substantially T-shaped or L-shaped members which include a face block and an integral elongated bar extending away from the face plate. Such integral members may be cast as a unitary structure from a suitable casting material such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,294, issued Aug. 4, 1987 or alternatively, may be cast of a casting material and further provided with a metallic reinforcing bar such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,166, issued Jan. 10, 1978. The above-mentioned structures are extremely heavy and significantly complicate the fabrication, handling and assembly of such large and bulky components. In addition, the elements have limited interlocking capabilities which degrade the strength, stability and ruggedness of the completed retaining wall assembly. Other systems reduce the weight of the overall structure by utilizing metallic bars which are mechanically fastened between face plates and anchor members, typically being anchored to the face plates and wrapped about the anchor members as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113, issued Apr. 30, 1985. These structures have the disadvantage of experiencing significant corrosion in use requiring replacement at a much more frequent rate than retaining wall assemblies formed of rugged, non-corrosive materials, such as concrete. U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113 describes a retaining wall system employing metallic rods joining the face plates and anchor members. The face plates of the retaining wall assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,113 also fails to disclose interlocking means for reinforcing, stabilizing and strengthening the face plates when fully assembled.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of the above retaining wall assemblies, the inventors of the present application developed the novel retainer wall assembly described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,770, issued Jul. 7, 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which describes a retainer wall assembly characterized by comprising separate face plates and tie-backs incorporating a suitable casting material and which interlock with one another in a unique and simple fashion to provide a rugged, stable and durable retainer wall assembly.
In one preferred embodiment, each face plate has a substantially cross-shaped outline and is provided with recesses along its top, bottom, left and right sides, which recesses cooperate with interlocking flanges provided at the forward end of each tie-back, the interlocking flanges causing each tie-back to interengage and lock in place four adjacent face plates. The face plates are interengaged by the tie-back/anchors in a unique fashion to further enhance the structural strength and alignment of the face of the retaining wall. Each tie-back extends rearwardly a distance which is a function of the height of the retaining wall and the free end of each tie-back is provided with stabilizing, anchoring feet extending in opposite directions from the tie-back to add further stability of the retaining wall assembly by resisting horizontal forces of the tie-backs and hence the face plates. Each member of the retaining wall assembly is simply aligned and lowered into place upon associated members and is automatically interlocked into the assembled position during the lowering operation thus simplifying assembly operations and totally eliminating the need for separate fastening members. Each face plate is cast of a suitable non-corrosive casting material which eliminates the need for metallic coupling bars, or other coupling elements employed in existing retaining wall systems, as a result of the unique interlocking arrangement thereby preventing the need for early repair and replacement of the retaining wall assembly due to corrosion.
The retaining wall assembly requires only two types of face plates, namely a face plate having a flat bottom edge for use as the first course of the retaining wall assembly; and a second type of face plate of the cross-shaped outline. The tie-backs, although identical in design regardless of which course they are employed in, preferably vary in length as a function of the height of the retaining wall assembly. Various lengths of tie-back/anchors may be employed for constructing a retaining wall. The longest are approximately 80% of wall height.
Each of the face plates of the preferred embodiment is provided with a substantially flat forward and rearward surface. As an alternative embodiment, however, the forward surfaces of the face plates may be made flat and the face plates may be provided with integral projections which extend rearwardly and are each provided with a recess for receiving and engaging the locking flanges of a cooperating tie-back. This alternative embodiment reduces the weight of the face plate.
In still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cross-shaped face plates may be substituted by face plates having a rectangular shape and provided with a pair of substantially T-shaped recesses along the top and bottom sides thereof for receiving and locking with the interengaging flanges of four tie-backs in such a manner that each face plate is interlocked with four adjacent face plates by way of the tie-backs. This latter embodiment requires only one type of face plate, thus reducing the number of components required to construct a retaining wall assembly.